LAD #14: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Summarize Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

In Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, Lincoln focuses on the issue of slavery, which was a fundamental cause of the split between the Northern and Southern states. Lincoln introduces the topic by remaining neutral about the subject and simply stating that it his mission to preserve the unity of the country as a republic. He claims that he doesn't have the right or interest to interfere with the policy of owning slaves in the South, and he refers to the Constitution as the unequivocal jurisdiction on the matter. The Constitution says that a person who is held to service or labor in one state cannot become free of their duty by entering another state. This clause applied to runaway slaves who believed they were free by escaping to the North. He connects this to the North, because the North often didn't return all the fugitive slaves, which was counteracted by the occurrence of infrequent illegal international slave trade in the South. Lincoln believed that there was a chance that these problems would never be completely resolved, but if the nation were to ever separate due to slavery, the problems would never be dealt with and they would only become worse. He also stressed the importance of the amalgamation of the states since before they created the Constitution. He declared that the states must always interact for mutual benefit, and that any act of secession would lead to chaos. He concluded his address by saying that it was crucial for the people to not be enemies but friends.